I. Field
The following description relates generally to wireless communications, and more particularly to enabling access terminals to decode subsets of link assignment blocks (LABs) transferred from base stations in a wireless communication system.
II. Background
Wireless communication systems are widely deployed to provide various types of communication; for instance, voice and/or data can be provided via such wireless communication systems. A typical wireless communication system, or network, can provide multiple users access to one or more shared resources (e.g., bandwidth, transmit power, . . . ). For instance, a system can use a variety of multiple access techniques such as Frequency Division Multiplexing (FDM), Time Division Multiplexing (TDM), Code Division Multiplexing (CDM), Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM), and others.
Generally, wireless multiple-access communication systems can simultaneously support communication for multiple access terminals. Each access terminal can communicate with one or more base stations via transmissions on forward and reverse links. The forward link (or downlink) refers to the communication link from base stations to access terminals, and the reverse link (or uplink) refers to the communication link from access terminals to base stations. This communication link can be established via a single-in-single-out, multiple-in-single-out or a multiple-in-multiple-out (MIMO) system.
Wireless communication systems oftentimes employ one or more base stations that provide a coverage area. A typical base station can transmit multiple data streams for broadcast, multicast and/or unicast services, wherein a data stream may be a stream of data that can be of independent reception interest to an access terminal. An access terminal within the coverage area of such base station can be employed to receive one, more than one, or all the data streams carried by the composite stream. Likewise, an access terminal can transmit data to the base station or another access terminal.
Base stations can communicate link assignment blocks (LABs) over the downlink. Each LAB can provide assignment related information to particular access terminal(s). Conventionally, an access terminal decodes each LAB communicated via the downlink from a base station to identify a subset of LABs intended for that particular access terminal. However, a large number of the decoded LABs can be directed towards disparate access terminal(s); accordingly, significant resource expenditures (e.g., time, processor cycles, . . . ) can be outlaid by the access terminal when employing common techniques where all or most of the LABs transferred from the base station are decoded. These resource expenditures can impact access terminal performance such as, for example, by diminishing a data rate utilized in connection with decoding data actually directed to a particular access terminal.